Lyric Meaning

Mos plays on the many meanings of “sleep” and “dreams” to great effect here. The working-class poor have to keep their alarms set and evacuate sleep because their job demands it, but Mos is also warning them to stay woke about the shady shit going on around them.

Along the same lines, the working class doesn’t have much time for neither actual dreams, because they get so little sleep, nor metaphorical dreams, because society often shoots down those brave enough to have a dream about a better day.

The phrase “let freedom ring” is a quote from “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”, quoted to great rhetorical effect by Martin Luther King in his [“I Have A Dream” speech]. Here Mos flips it ironically — the peal of freedom can’t be heard over the din and oppression of ghetto life.

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